


"Doors Closing"

by SeverEstHolmes



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Ministry AU, Ministry of Magic, ]
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-22
Updated: 2016-01-22
Packaged: 2018-05-15 11:19:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5783425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeverEstHolmes/pseuds/SeverEstHolmes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on the request: <br/>Post-war Ministry employees AU; repeated elevator meetings trope. Smut optional.</p><p>The turbulent introduction of Draco Malfoy to a position in the Ministry, in which Hermione is proved wrong about her own prejudices of him. Beginning of their relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	"Doors Closing"

**Author's Note:**

  * For [provocative_envy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/provocative_envy/gifts).



> So I had intended for this to perhaps be even more detailed (and to include some smut), but I totally ran out of time, I'm sorry. Hopefully I might add to it in future! But I hope you enjoy, I loved the idea of the repeated lift trope!

            Mornings were mixed for Hermione Granger. It really depended on whether she had managed to achieve the routine she tried to set up for herself. She had established through a great deal of trial and error (including all those years at Hogwarts) the exact amount of sleep that she required to be at peak functionality the next day, and while she knew she could cope on just over four hours, she felt most rested when she got seven and a half hours. It was rare that she got that seven and a half though – there always seemed to be something to distract her from the need for sleep.

The other necessity she had finely tuned was her need for caffeine and that was intrinsically linked with how much sleep she had managed to get. It had become an almost daily habit to drop into a muggle coffee shop on her way to the Ministry, and allow them the task of brewing up whatever strength of coffee she felt was required.

            She hadn’t intended to work in the Ministry, not straight out of Hogwarts anyway, she had thought she might do some other stuff – travel perhaps, or more study in another country, she hadn’t been sure. But when Kingsley approached her and asked if she would be interested in spearheading a new department in the Ministry she could hardly say no. She still remembered when she told her parents that she had accepted a job offer: of course they had been proud, you could hardly get better than leading your own department at the age of nineteen.

Yet she had sensed a tinge of disappointment, particularly from her mother – not because of the job, but from the opportunities of travel and experience that now were no longer an option. Maybe she expected Hermione to find a nice husband while travelling now that her relationship with Ron had fizzled out, but that had been put on hold while Hermione took up her position at the Ministry.

That had been three years ago now and Hermione was still there with her small, but select, team. The Equality Office had begun with Hermione and two others, a researcher Leyton, and Dottie, a witch from legal who had been co-opted to help as a trial but had ended up staying. Now they had gained three more members who each took a group to represent: Aidan worked specifically in conjunction with the Goblin Liaison Office, Darissia with magical creatures including centaurs and merpeople, and Persephone who worked with the families of muggleborns along with the rest of the wizarding community. Hermione had insisted that she wanted to represent house elves, despite that technically falling under Darissia’s remit – she couldn’t quite let that passion go to someone else.

This particular Monday Hermione was running later than usual, she had been awake until 2am reading over an article written not long after the fall of Grindelwald and how wizarding society on the European continent rebuilt itself, and she struggled to drag herself out of her cosy bed. She knew she needed to be at the Ministry for 9:30 for a meeting with Kingsley, but she could afford to be a little later than she normally was – 8:45. Well, that was what she was telling herself as she stood in the queue of her favourite coffee shop trying to decide whether she should order a macchiato with one extra shot or two… or whether she should just order a triple espresso. The minute she ordered two extra shots she began to regret it, did she really need that much caffeine this early in the week? As she carried the warm cup into the Ministry entrance she wondered why Kingsley wanted a meeting with her, he had been vague in his memo requesting it.

She was still pondering this as she waited in the Atrium, filled with employees chatting before heading off to their own departments, or waiting for space in the lifts.

“Hermione!” She was recalled from her sleepy preoccupation by Aidan, he had been talking with some friends but had come across when he spotted her standing alone. “Did you have a good weekend?”

            “Yeah, it was alright.” She stifled a yawn, “How was yours?” Aidan was a few years older than her, but he didn’t begrudge having a younger boss (or he never did outwardly!).

            “It was quiet.” The smirk on his face showed that perhaps he wasn’t being entirely honest.

            “Nothing is ever quiet with you Aidan.” Hermione replied honestly, he shrugged his shoulders.

            “Perhaps not quiet… but nothing too outrageous.” He laughed; Aidan was a pureblood but he had recently discovered the muggle nightlife in London and he always seemed to come in on a Monday morning with a wealth of stories about his experiences.

            As they were standing in the queue for the lift Hermione’s eyes fell on the visitor’s reception where a tall fair man was conversing with Ernie, the guard.

            “You’ve got a meeting with the Minister for Magic this morning, don’t you?” He questioned, he sounded nervous and Hermione knew why. The thought had crossed her mind more than once – what if they were intending to close the Equalities Office down? While the rational part of her mind was relatively sure that Kingsley wouldn’t do that to her, but it worried her nonetheless.

            “I do, but you don’t need to worry for your job Aidan,” Hermione told him, trying to sound reassuring. They were near the front of the thinning crowd still waiting for lifts, and the fair visitor who had caught her attention before had straightened up from the desk. As he did so Hermione gasped in recognition as a pair of silver-grey eyes sparkled out of a pale pointed face. She turned away from the desk, holding her coffee cup up to her face in the hope that doing this would shield her from the view of Draco Malfoy. A lift had just clattered into the shaft and she rushed to get in, Aidan followed her, rather confused by Hermione’s odd behaviour.

            “Hermione, what are you-” Aidan had begun, but she stopped him with a frown and hissed:

            “Sssh!” Aidan looked utterly bemused, but to Hermione’s horror Draco boarded the same lift, standing near the front. His hair was no longer slicked back in the style he had worn it during school, but longer and ruffled. He was dressed in a soft grey suit and equipped with a briefcase.

            Unsure whether she was trembling at the sudden sight of this old enemy, or simply from the amount of caffeine she had consumed. Hermione sidled round to face the side of the lift, still with her coffee cup obscuring most of her face. From her position she peeked at the back of the mans head – perhaps she had just imaged that it was Draco, but as he left on the next floor he turned ever so slightly and Hermione knew it was him.

            What on earth was Draco Malfoy doing in the Ministry of Magic? The last time she had heard anything about the Malfoys’ was right after the War ended. They had vanished into the vaporous ether like so many of the Death Eaters, and the ones who hadn’t been imprisoned still hadn’t reappeared.

            “What on earth are you doing?” Aiden asked, looking at Hermione with confusion; she shook her head until the doors of the lift had slid close, and she let out a breath that she hadn’t realised she had been holding.

            “A past life just flashed before my eyes…” Hermione muttered in a low voice once the lift had continued to clatter downwards.

            “What?” He said.

            “Nothing, it doesn’t matter.” Hermione replied, more for herself than him. When the lift finally clunked onto the floor Hermione parted from Aidan, but the thoughts of Malfoy wandering about somewhere on one of the upper levels stuck with her.

            The flustered morning was not improved by a rather uncharacteristic lapse of timekeeping; at 9:35 Persephone stuck her head around the corned of Hermione’s door and reminded her that she was meant to be in a meeting with Kinglsey. Grabbing parchment and a quill she went racing out into the lift, cursing herself for having forgotten in such a short space of time.

            The door to Kingsley’s office clicked open omnisciently as Hermione approached, she tentatively tapped on the open door to announce her arrival.

            “Hermione, come in.” Kinglsey welcomed her in his slow calming voice.

            “I’m sorry that I’m a bit late, I lost track of the time.” She apologised.

            “That’s alright, take a seat.” He offered, she had been in Kingsley’s office several times before but every time she noticed something knew – this time it was a framed photo of the old Order of the Phoenix, the one with Sirius, Remus and Harry’s parents in it, hanging on the wall. Being summoned to the office of the Minister for Magic was always nerve wracking, even for Hermione who knew Kingsley so well there was that tiny twinge that he was still her boss. “How are you getting on with your legal petitions?”

            “Oh…” She had been expecting something much more serious than just a departmental check up. “Good, yes! Dottie has been working with the International Confederation of Warlocks to try and push through new amendments for goblin and elf status. She’s been a fantastic resource in her knowledge of the previous acts.”

            “That’s good.” Kingsley nodded, “Now I’m sure you’ll have guess that I haven’t called you here just for a check on the department.” Hermione’s heart plummeted at these words.

            “I thought there might be something else.” She said, trying to not let her voice betray her nerves.

            “I’ve hired a specialist to work within the Ministry, he has a degree from a muggle university.” He explained. “I’m hoping that he’ll work with quite a few departments, but particularly with the Equalities Office, with Persephone and you.”      

            “A degree from a muggle university?” Hermione asked, that was incredibly odd – most people from the wizarding community didn’t go back into the muggle population after Hogwarts. Could Kingsley have hired someone from outside of the wizarding world to work in the Ministry? Surely not…” Are they a muggle?”

            “No they’re not.” There was a small smile playing across Kingsley’s face. “They left the wizarding community after the War and have completed a degree in psychology, I’ve invited him here to meet you.” Kingsley raised his wand and his lynx patronus burst forth from it, evidently to bring this newly hired individual in. When Kingsley had mentioned they had left after the War a tingling sensation had spread from Hermione’s throat up into her head creating a buzzing feeling; she had suddenly suspected who it might be that Kingsley had hired. With a click Kingsley’s door opened of its own accord and Hermione swivelled in her chair to see the briefcase carrying, ruffled haired Draco Malfoy.

            “Hermione, I believe you are already acquainted with Mr Malfoy.” Kingsley said slowly, as Draco nodded towards her politely. He stood timidly as the door closed behind him, Hermione had felt the muscles across her back contract and her heart was battering away in her chest. Despite the absence of the familiar sneer, the slicked hair and the haughty air that had used to accompany Draco, Hermione still felt an uncertainty that was nostalgic of the youngest Malfoy. “Take a seat Mr Malfoy.” Instinctively Hermione moved back in her chair, subconsciously – or perhaps not so subconsciously – distancing herself from him. “I wanted to introduce you formally now as you will be working together.” Kingsley said, Hermione was stating at him in disbelief. Malfoy had been one of the Death Eaters! Was three years and a degree from a muggle university enough to absolve him of everything that he had done? Now that she knew it was him Hermione was even more convinced that a muggle degree was not authentic, and why would that be of any use. “Mr Malfoy-“

            “It’s Draco, please.” Draco interrupted, his voice softer than Hermione remembered, with none of the biting sneer. “Mr Malfoy was my father, I’d prefer to go by my own name please.”

            “I’ve brought Draco into the Ministry to aid us in post-war reparations.” Kingsley started. “The Ministry are in agreement that we need to adapt and develop schemes for new muggleborns coming into the wizarding world so they don’t feel left out or out of their depths, Hermione I know you will be able to aid us with that.” Hermione nodded, “But we feel we also need to make great effort with our pureblood families and to remove much of the prejudice that is ingrained and has lingered.”

            “Which is where I come in,” Draco provided, Hermione stared at him before turning back to Kingsley. “I presume anyway.”

            “Exactly.” Kingsley nodded. “Hermione has already begun a successful launch into the cooperation between muggle and wizarding families, so she’ll be able to fill you in on that.”

            “That’s great.” Draco replied, he was looking directly at Hermione who felt as though she was under deep scrutiny; she didn’t feel altogether comfortable with this.

            “Hermione, perhaps you could take Draco to your department to introduce him to some of his new colleagues,” Kingsley suggested, she wanted to refuse but wouldn’t do so in the presence of Kingsley.

            “Okay then.” She said, standing up from her chair. Draco picked up his briefcase and waited for Hermione to lead the way; without making eye contact or waiting to see if Draco was following she marched right out of Kingsley’s office to the lift. It was only once Hermione was in the lift with Draco standing next to her that her heart began to calm down; it was an uncomfortable silence as the lift descended, Draco rocked on the balls of his feet as he waited. Hermione couldn’t believe that she was on a lift with someone who used to be her archenemy, there was a surrealness about the whole situation, especially as now she was going to have to introduce him to her colleagues.

            “This way.” Hermione snapped as the lift jangled to a stop. Opening the door to the open plan office she left out a greeting which was reciprocated by those at their desk. “Guys, this is Mr. Malfoy.” She began, disregarding his previous request. “Kingsley hired him to do some interdepartmental work, I believe he might be of some help to Persephone, with the pureblood and muggleborns schemes.”

            “Hi.” Persephone piped up, holding out her hand for him to shake. “I’m Persphone.” He hesitated for a second before shaking her hand, Hermione noticed that the cuff of his left sleeve was tightly buttoned, and she knew that was the arm that had been branded with the dark mark. “Malfoy, is it? Is that the same-“

            “The same Malfoy as Lucius, unfortunately.” He finished for her, nodding. “I’ve tried to distance myself from that past, but of course with the name it is difficult. Call me Draco, please.” He shot a glance at Hermione as though trying to remind her this also.

            “Perhaps you could outline what you’ve been working on so Draco will know what we’ve already done.” Hermione suggested to Persephone, making sure to emphasise Draco’s name. “I’ve got some work I need to do.”

            “Of course,” Persephone agreed, looking peculiarly at Hermione, but she ignored this as she left the open plan section and went into her own office.

            Hermione put her head in her hands, she couldn’t wait for the work day to be over so she could go home and discover that this had all been some kind of sick joke, or maybe she was still dreaming. She could already imagine the look on Harry’s face when she told him that she was going to have to work with Draco Malfoy in the Ministry.

**

            “I know.” Hermione was leaning against the counter in Harry’s kitchen with a glass of wine in her hand, watching him cook something for them to eat. She had sent Harry a message asking if she could see him that evening, and he had invited her for dinner.

            “You know?” She echoed.

            “I knew Malfoy had got a job in the Ministry.” He replied, his voice was calm but he was determinedly watching the chicken cooking in his frying pan. “Kingsley asked me what I thought before he offered Malfoy the position.”

            “And you didn’t think to tell me?” Hermione asked incredulously, putting her wine glass down a little too hard and sending some slopping out onto her hand.

            “I didn’t know that it was going to affect you.” He said.

            “What do you mean?”

            “I didn’t know what exactly he was being hired to do, I just knew he was going to be a consultant.” He answered, “Don’t you think if I had l known he was going to be working with your department that I would have told you?” Hermione knew that he would have; even though Harry was only newly qualified as an auror, his opinions were sought frequently. Kingsley had clearly never forgotten the last words that Dumbledore had spoken to him.

            “I – I just… I don’t get it!” Hermione spluttered, “I’m sure there a bunch of other people out there who could do that job, why Malfoy?”

            “He does have a few advantages just because of who he is.” Harry had absent mindedly flicked his wand towards the frying pan, and those vegetables which had been chopping themselves flew into it.

            “What do you mean?”

            “Well, he’s in to do stuff about reconciliation, trying to break down the remaining barriers and prejudice, right?” Harry began.

            “Yes, but-“ She had been about to say that that was exactly the purpose of the campaign her office had set up.

            He understands that kind of mentality, he lived with that for most of his life, and he’s had to face the consequences of those actions.” Harry justified.

            “Yes, I know, but –“ Hermione dismissed.

            “And instead of retaining those kind of views, he exiled himself from the wizarding community to go to a muggle university, forcing himself to really become part of that world.” Harry told her. “And in studying psychology he ended up volunteering as part of his degree in Eastern Europe with the reconciliation process between… now, was it Serbia? No, Bosnia I think.” That was something that Hermione had not been aware of, but it could hardly have sounded more un-Malfoy-like.

            “I still don’t think it feels right, he hasn’t done anything really to repay for his actions during the War.” Hermione pulled out plates from Harry’s cupboard and siged.

            “I think that’s what he’s trying to do now – repay some of those debts.” Harry offered, there was a silence as he dished out the stir fry onto the plates. “He did actually help me, you know that…” He eventually said as they sat down to eat. “He lied about who I was, he gave us time to get away. You’ve always been the one who told Ron and me to keep giving chances, to not let our hearts get in the way of our brains… I think you should try and give Draco a chance.”

            “I know Harry.” Hermione paused. “I’ll try… I just... I don’t see him working with me actually working.”

**

            If there was one thing that Draco knew for certain was that he was not stupid; he had never been foolish or particularly gullible. He knew exactly what people thought of him and his family – he knew for many the things he had done made him irredeemable, but for the tiny percentage of people who he might just be able to convince now much he had changed, he had gone all out. Which was why the unfriendly and slightly hostile reaction of Hermione had thrown him. He assumed that she might be one of the more open minded people, but her face when he arrived had been one of shock and disappointment. It couldn’t have been clearer that she didn’t want anything to do with him, she had run away at the first possibility that she had, but Draco was going to prove to her – in any way that he could – that he had left his past life behind.

            Hermione tossed and turned that first night after her conversation with Harry, every time she felt herself slipping off to sleep the face of Draco Malfoy floated to the surface of her mind and created a fresh wave of confusion and annoyance about the situation. Harry’s encouragement that she should give Malfoy a chance, that there had been some level of Draco that had tried to help them at the end of the War, could not blot out the fact that all through their time at school he had been horrific to her. The slurs he had used to address her, the smarmy pompous manner in which he assumed his superior intelligence, his fascination and involvement with the dark arts, all of that kept repeating in her mind. When she was still awake at 6:30 she knew there was no point in continuing to try and sleep, she rose disgruntled and tired and began to get ready for work. As she did so she thought that if she went into work early then she would be less likely to run into Draco, or to be subject to the gossip that she knew would be happening about his hire.

            The sky was still dark as Hermione left for the Ministry and the streets surrounding it were deserted; the night guard was still on duty in the Atrium, half asleep on his chair behind the desk. The lift was waiting in the Atrium for Hermione and she stepped into it, rubbing her hands across her ace and considering what to tackle first when in her office. To her immense surprise, the lift did not proceed all the way down to the floor that Hermione had requested, but jangled to a halt one floor down from the Atrium and as the door slid open the tall figure of Malfoy came into view. At once she felt discombobulated by the appearance of the very person that she had longed to avoid and she could feel herself scowling at this turn of events. Malfoy paused for a second, as though surprised at seeing another person awake at the Ministry so early, then entered the lift and stood next to Hermione.

            “Good morning,” He said politely, having laid his briefcase at his feet while the lift continued to descend.

            “Morning.” She replied curtly, staring straight ahead of her so as to stop any further conversation. Malfoy was dressed in a fine suit of tweed like material, his hair in a windswept quiff that looked simultaneously styled and spontaneous. Then she realised what she must look like, her hair was a gigantic frizz that she hadn’t bothered taming, she had no make up on her face and she had barely considered the clothes which she had pulled out of her wardrobe.

            “Are you an early riser?” He asked conversationally.

            “Not normally, no.” She answered, making a mental note for the future that he was an early riser so perhaps she should now be late.

            “Are you in for something?” He continued. Hermione couldn’t fail to notice that the harsh sneering quality that used to typify his voice had been replaced by a gentler, lilting tone. In glancing over to him she unwittingly caught his eye, her memory of school aged Malfoy was a pair of steel coloured, hard set eyes creating the focal point of his pale face, but now they looked like they were made from silver liquid and the colour in his cheeks made his features less harsh and less pointed.

            “Not really.” She murmured.

            “It’d be good if I could go through some of the finer details of the pureblood scheme that you’ve set up, the one that Persephone went over with me yesterday.” He said quickly. “I’ve got a few ideas that you might be able to add to it.” Hermione felt ruffled; who did he think he was – swanning in and acting as though he knew best – clearly he hadn’t changed that much.

            “Hmmm…” The lift had stopped, and Hermione was glad to be getting out.

            “I’ll come by at some point.” Draco was continuing. “I must say it is a fantastic scheme you’ve set up.”

            “Thanks,” She was wary of his praise, she was wary of him overall.

            “I’ll see you later.” He called cordially.

            “Hopefully not too soon…” Hermione mumbled to herself, walking off towards her office, leaving Draco behind.

            Hermione couldn’t understand it, for the rest of the week Malfoy appeared to be everywhere that she went. She began to think that he had placed a charm to keep a track of her; when she went out mid-morning to get a coffee he was in the same lift as her, when she decided to answer a memo in person there he was in the corridor, as she left the Ministry in the afternoon he was in the Atrium with his briefcase and jacket on talking to Ernie. He had waved at her that time as she queued to use a fireplace, she pretended that she hadn’t seen him.

            Sometimes she wondered if she was just being stupid about the whole thing; surely if everyone else was going on about how much he had changed, there must be something in those claims, but her pride kept her resistant, she wasn’t quite ready to give in yet.

            Draco had noticed the absence of one of the main people he was supposed to be working alongside; several times during his first week he had turned up at Hermione’s office to try and arrange a meeting with her, only to find that she wasn’t there. His nerves at beginning to work at the Ministry had begun to be assuaged, he could tell he was winning people over – Persephone, who worked in Hermione’s department, was one who had initially been frosty towards him but had since had lunch with him and realised just how much he had changed from his previous death eater ways. He was charming, polite, obviously intelligent and, it seemed, progressive. When Persephone had commented upon this to him he had been modest, claiming that spending most of his life with a bigoted enforced mindset had allowed him a rapid expansion of mind as soon as he was free. His whole life had changed, he assured her, and he wished to prove that to everyone. He thought he should probably apologise to Hermione for the way he had treated her during school, but he wasn’t sure on how to do that if Hermione didn’t want to know.

**

            “What a week…” Hermione moaned, taking a great gulp of her butter beer. “I’ve been looking forward to this evening since Monday afternoon.” It was Friday evening and Hermione, Harry, Ron and Ginny were at their usual haunt: the pub.

            “I’ve heard you’ve got a new colleague at work.” Ginny laughed heartily, Hermione rolled her eyes and nodded. “Harry’s been telling me all about the new addition to the Ministry, that Kingsley’s hired him as-“

            “As some kind of consultant.” Hermione answered, tipping her bottle from side to side. “I just can’t believe Kingsley’s hired him.”

            “It’s not like he’s actually part of your department though, eh?” Ginny said consolingly.

            “He might as well be,” Hermione grumbled. “The number of times he’s appeared at my department trying to arrange meetings to ‘discuss’ the pureblood scheme… Our pureblood scheme was doing perfectly well without him, thank you very much.”

            “I thought you were going to give him a chance.” Harry raised her eyebrows at her.

            “Well…” Hermione avoided looking at him, feeling guilty. “I’ve kind of just ignored and avoided him instead…” She admitted, Ginny laughed again.

            “Hermione!” Harry remonstrated, but he too was grinning.

            “A little bird told me that he went and spent some time at a muggle university.” Ginny nudged Harry affectionately.

            “He did more than spend some time, he got a degree, it’s difficult to get _more_ immersed in muggle life than that!” Harry replied.

            “Why have you been avoiding him?” Ginny asked.

            “I wouldn’t like to work with the git particularly, but Kingsley’s got good judgement – if he thinks Malfoy’s the right person for that role then he’s probably right.” Ron interrupted, Hermione glared at him.

            “I’m not even sure if I can explain why I feel so unsure about him,” Hermione was frustrated with her friends. How had they suddenly forgotten everything that had happened while they were at school and joined the ‘I love Draco Malfoy’ team? “There’s just something that puts me on edge. When I heard him in the open plan bit of the office the other day, and I knew he was coming to see me, I ended up hiding under my desk.” She hadn’t meant to tell them that piece of information, she had felt embarrassed about that moment even as it was happening – what if she had been found, hiding under a desk like a scared child? “I guess I just need actual proof that he’s changed, and he’s not still the creep he was back then.”

            “Pfff – wait!” Ron spat out a mouthful of his firewhisky.

            “Ron!” Ginny wrinkled her nose in disgust.

            “Sorry,” He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, “But you _Hermione Granger_ hid underneath a desk?”

            “Oh you’ve got it bad!” Ginny exclaimed.

            “Got what bad?” Hermione asked confused.

            “You don’t want proof, concrete or otherwise, that he’s changed. Harry handed you a bunch of evidence that he’s changed.” Ginny said.

            “Would the Malfoy we used to know _ever_ have considered going to a muggle university? Or doing a muggle degree in a subject like psychology of all things? I definitely know that the Malfoy that was at school would never have gone to a foreign country to help in the clear up of a muggle way – he regarded them all as filth and scum, then suddenly he’s patching up wounds, feeding people who’ve been starving and reuniting families who’ve lost someone in the fighting. If that’s not an entirely different Malfoy to the one we used to know, then I don’t know what would prove it.” Harry justified.

            “You’ve got a thing for him!” Ginny remarked.

            “Don’t be ridiculous!” Hermione protested, “I’ve just told you how much of a bigoted creep he was, and you take from that, that I fancy him?!”

            “I’m calling it now.” Ginny said, her grin spreading over her face. “I dare you to stop avoiding him, stop hiding under your desk and only having one word conversations with him, and I bet in a few days you’ll realise it’s not hate or evidence you want from him.”

            “There’s no point in betting on something that I know is wrong.” Hermione shook her head, she was a grown adult, she didn’t need to respond to childish taunts like that.

            “Just try it, hey? And if you’re right you can spend the rest of the year correcting every mistake I make and proving me wrong.” Ginny answered.

            “Deal.” Hermione agreed, in full awareness that she would be soon telling Ginny just how wrong she had been.

**

            “Good morning.” Hermione had bit the bullet and decided to prove Ginny wrong as soon as she could; she was early into work this morning. Draco was impeccably dressed in the grey suit that Hermione had first seen him in, and he had just stepped into the same lift as Hermione.

            “Good morning.” He answered.

            “How are you settling in?” She forced herself to turn and face him, and to her consternation she felt an odd fluttering in her chest.

            “It’s been easier than I expected to be honest,” He replied, he was smiling and his whole face lit up from it.

            “Good, that’s good.” Hermione looked away briefly, surely this was just because of what Ginny had said. “I was thinking about what you said about having a meeting about the pureblood scheme. Are you still wanting that?”

            “Yeah, that would be really helpful.” Draco nodded.

            “Is this afternoon alright? After lunchtime?” She suggested.

            “That’s superb! I’ll get my thinking cap on,” He said, then picked up his briefcase which had been at his feet. “I’m getting off at this floor.” He indicated to the lift doors as they began to slide open.

            “I’ll see you later then.” Hermione answered.

            “I look forward to it.” Draco raised his hand in goodbye.

            Without the necessity of hiding whenever she thought Malfoy was near, or having an ear out for his voice, her concentration was greatly improved from that of the past week. With a meeting arranged she no longer had to worry about that so she rattled through her work in no time at all, so by the time lunchtime rolled round Hermione had laid out everything her and her team had done with the pureblood and muggleborns schemes in preparation. With everything ready and that strange fluttering sensation rekindling in her upper chest she decided to go out for a coffee.

            Armed with a vanilla macchiato and a blueberry muffin Hermione realised that she had probably spent too much time talking to Greg the barista and now Draco would be absolutely certain that she was purposely avoiding him. Rushing as quickly as she could, she collided headlong into someone in the lift, sending a fine spray of coffee onto a grey suit that she recognised in horror.

            “Oh my goodness!” Hermione gasped as she looked up from her coffee to see Draco. “I’m so sorry!” She shoved the muffin in her pocket, and dabbed at the stain with her napkin, then pulled out her wand to clean it. “I’ll sort it, I’m sorry.” To her great surprise Draco was merely laughing.

            “Don’t be ridiculous, it’s fine!” He laughed and his voice sounded airy and friendly. “Honestly Hermione, I’ve had worse than some coffee spilt on me before, it’s fine!” He insisted; Hermione tucked her wand away, feeling immensely awkward at her blunder. “I was just heading down to see you, am I too early?” Draco continued as though the incident with the coffee had never happened and as if there wasn’t an off brown coffee stain on the lapel of his suit.

            “I – well, yes that’s fine.” Hermione stammered, trying to recompose herself. “I had thought you might be waiting, which was why I was rushing.”

            “Ah so it was fortuitous that we should run into each other then!” Draco smiled, Hermione experienced that odd fluttering sensation again. During this conversation Hermione realised that she hadn’t felt any of her previous resentment towards Draco. In her office Hermione laid her coffee down on her desk, Draco was edging slowly around the table that she had spread out all the details of the schemes.

            “What you’ve set up really is a testament,” He proclaimed slowly, turning the page of a notebook which was full of scraps of parchment used for planning. “To how well the wizarding world is doing. If nothing else it seems we heal quickly.” Hermione watched him as he fingered through the papers, and there was a sadness to his voice and across his face.

            “Harry said that you spent some time in Eastern Europe.” Hermione wasn’t sure why she said it, but there was something about the way he looked that made her curious.

            “Hmm?” He looked up at her, and then as though hearing what she had said he straightened his back upright. “I did, yes…” He paused, and Hermione waited for him to say more. “I went to Srebrenica, in Bosnia, with some friends I met at university. There’s been war going on in the Balkans for years, but we heard about a massacre – a genocide – that had happened, all the men and young boys slaughtered because they were a different religion.” Draco’s voice grew weak and he looked back down at the table; Hermione saw that his hands were trembling, and realised that maybe now she was viewing him as a man, a very human one, rather than the detached, cruel puppet that he had been before.

            “It must have been awful…” Hermione whispered.

            “It was,” Draco nodded. “It broke me, and then forced me to mend properly.” He looked up at Hermione. “Only in being faced with an enemy targeting a group for no other reason than something they believed, something that they often could do nothing about, and actually _living_ among those people, seeing their pain, tending their wounds and trying to help in any way I could, that made me see what the Death Eaters did to everyone.” Hermione stood mute, she had no idea what to say to the intensity of how he spoke. “I am a very changed person to the one that left Hogwarts.”

            “I think I can see that.” Hermione conceded.

            “But you didn’t bring me down here to question me about all that,” Draco went on, his voice lightening considerably. “Or did you?” Hermione said nothing. “But I do have a few things that perhaps you could add into your scheme, just to broaden it out some more.”

**

            “Okay, so maybe I was wrong.” Hermione mumbled, trying to keep her voice so low that perhaps Ginny wouldn’t hear her. They were in the pub again, and another week had passed where Hermione had ended up spending more time with Draco than she had anticipated. After that meeting on Monday, she had bumped into him several times and ended up chatting to him. Once he had come to speak to Persephone and Hermione had suddenly experienced a pang of jealousy that he was speaking to her in the same manner as he had to Hermione. She convinced herself that she was being stupid about that, it was his _job_ to consult. She hoped for her quiet confession to go unnoticed, however her friends’ ear was sharp, especially when it came to hearing Hermione admit to being wrong.

            “Sorry what was that?” Ginny asked, her head had whipped round and in doing so her hair had hit Harry’s face, drawing his attention also.

            “I said,” Hermione repeated through gritted teeth. “That I might have been wrong about Draco, that he has changed since we left school.”

            “And..?”

            “And nothing!” Hermione protested, but she felt a blush spreading across her cheeks.

            “Nope, you’ve not given it enough time then,” Ginny brushed it off.

            “Why are you so convinced that I should have a thing for Draco?” Hermione asked curiously.

            "You just seem a good match, the new Draco and you." 

"Ginny's probably right about that, I heard him talk at a Ministry meeting and he's as passionate about changing the understanding of the blood status rankings as you are about spew." Harry chipped in. 

"I give it another week, just wait- he'll be making a move on you!" Ginny assured her. 

Hermione tried to put this assurity of matchmaking by her best mates to the back of her mind, but she lay in her bed with thoughts about Draco swirling in her mind. All weekend she found her thoughts wandering back to the different conversations she had had the previous week with Malfoy. When he spotted a memo wedged between the light shift of a lift while they were both occupants and extricated it with extreme delicacy. How he apologised to Persephone for towering over her, then forehence bent his knees quite dramatically so they were on face level in his later conversations with him, making them both laugh. How he reassured those employees who were startled at seeing him in the Ministry for the first time. Why did she keep remembering those small details that she witnessed about him? 

Hermione had an early meeting on Monday morning, and arrived at the Ministry by 8:30. It was in the lift that she, unsurprisingly, first came into contact with Draco. With both the two of them frequenting trips to different people in the Ministry on both business and personal reasons, the lift was one of the places where they ran into one another often.

"Did you have a good weekend?" Hermione asked. 

"It wasn't too bad, very quiet." He replied, "What about yourself?" 

"It was alright, finished some work, read some books, saw some people..." Hermione answered non-chalantly. "Well-"

"I -" Draco began speaking at the same time as Hermione had, and they both grinned at this. 

"You go," Hermione insisted, and she could feel herself blushing. 

"I was just wondering..." He paused, looking down at his feet and grinning nervously. "Would you like to go for coffee sometime? With me?"

"Do you mean, like a date or...?" Her heart was beginning to race in her chest, clearly there was something in what Ginny had said.

"Well..." He looked sheepish, his cheeks had turned pink. "If you would like to, yeah." 

"That sounds nice, yeah." She agreed, feeling an electric pulse charge through her body. "Look, I've got a big meeting this morning, I'm going to try and persuade some of the Hogwarts staff to get on board with the idea of students families being invited to quidditch matches to try and integrate the purebloods and muggleborns, but how about we go out for coffee to celebrate at lunchtime?"

"To celebrate? You think they're going to go for it?" He asked, it was one of the ideas that he had come up with. 

"I know they are." She nodded, "Because I'm not going to let them  _not_ go for it!" 

"Alright then," He was smiling broadly now, revealing his white teeth. "Let's do that."  

"Meet you in the atrium? Just after one?" She said, the lift doors were opening and she took a step forward to get out, then looking back she waved, but Draco wasn't looking at her, he was staring at his feet with a ridiculous grin spreading across his face. 

She barely had time before her meeting to scribble off a note to Ginny, informing her of the sudden new revelation: perhaps Draco Malfoy wasn't as bad as she had thought, actually thinking about it he had everything that Hermione valued. He was charming, patient, he thought about the people around him and he was passionate. The new Draco Malfoy ticked all the boxes that Hermione could have ever wanted in a partner.

Her prediction about the meeting had been right, she didn't even need to particularly convince anyone from the panel (and it helped that Neville was on the panel, in favour of everything she said almost more vehemently than she was herself). By quarter to one she had returned to her office, triumphant. Rummaging through her bag, while considering trying to tame her hair before her date - she could hardly believe that word applied- with Draco, there came a knock at the door and Persephone stuck her head round. 

"I heard the meeting went well!" She said, entering fully into the room once she was sure there was no one else in there. 

"It did, they were really enthusiastic about the idea." Hermione told her, putting her bag back down on the floor. "I think it's one of just a few simple things that we can do to really bring about total integration." 

"That's great." She replied, she was standing in the middle of Hermione's office staring at her like she was trying to work something out. 

"Is there something else I can help you with?" Hermione asked. 

"Are you going on a date with Draco?" Persephone asked in a rush, Hermione blinked and could feel her cheeks reddening involuntarily. 

"Where did you hear that?" She said, trying to make it sound like it was a preposterous idea. 

"Oh... no where in particular," She scuffed the tip of her shoes into the carpet, "It's just... I think he really likes you, he mentioned something about having had a thing for you when you were at school together." 

"He had a funny way of showing it then," Hermione answered. "He was horrible to me at school." 

"That's what all the boys do though isn't it?" Persephone nodded vehemently, "Some kind of reverse psychology that they have about teasing and being nasty to the girls that they like - gets them noticed or something weird like that." 

"Reverse psychology, huh?" Hermione commented, picking up her bag again and fished a lipstick out. "I might ask Draco about that on our date, seeing as he's got a psychology degree..." 

"So it's true!" Persephone gasped. 

"I'm afraid I have to go..." Hermione said, "Or I'm going to be late for my date."

In the atrium Draco was standing near one of the fireplaces, waiting for Hermione to appear; his face broke into a smile when he saw her walking towards her. 

"I heard it went well, the meeting." He greeted her cheerfully, walking alongside her towards the public entrance of the Ministry. Draco stood back, allowing Hermione to get into the lift first, then followed her inside. 

"It did!" She said, "It was a unanimous approval of that idea! The more pressing issue is that my whole office seem to be talking about the fact we're going on a date just now..." Draco went bright red and shuffled his feet. 

"I - well, someone asked me this morning why I was grinning, and I told them that I was going for coffee with you... and I think it kind of snowballed..." He admitted, "I'm sorry." 

"No, it's alright," Hermione shook her head, getting out of the telephone box onto the London street. "I just wondered how they seemed to know more than I did!" 

"Me and my big mouth I'm afraid, I've never been able to keep my mouth shut when it comes to good news." Draco looked up and down the street. "And I'm afraid I don't know this bit of London too well - I'm kind of relying on you to suggest a coffee shop for us to go to."

"Follow me," Hermione laughed. "I know  _all_ of the coffee shops round here, and the ones that have the best muffins too." She led Draco along a little side alleyway and into a small coffee shop that she frequented. 

"Ah Miss Granger, vanilla macchiato?" The barista asked, smiling in recognition. 

"That'd be great Greg, I'm sitting in today though." She said, "Draco what would you like?" 

"Just a flat white please." To Hermione's amusement, Greg the barista seemed to be eyeing Draco up as he set about making the coffees on the complicated looking machine he was so expert at. 

"Here we go," He placed them on a tray, "You're a lucky man."

"Sorry?" Draco questioned. 

"Months and months I've been asking Miss Granger here for her number, and she's politely declined me every time, so I tell you - you're a lucky man!" Hermione blushed, picking up the tray with the coffees and heading of towards a table at the other side of the cafe. 

"Oh I know." Draco answered smoothly, handing over the money to Greg and following her. 

"I'm sorry about that," She apologised, taking a seat. 

"I'm not surprised by it to be honest," Draco said casually, "I would have thought you would have men throwing themselves at you." 

"I promise you that they haven't been," Hermione commented, "However... I heard from a little bird that you had a thing for me in school..." Draco had been taking a sip of his coffee and he lowered it back to the table and looked at her.

"You already know that I wasn't a nice person in school, it was difficult." He explained, his eyes were a beautiful liquid silver and as Hermione looked into them she felt as though she could almost sink into their shimmery beauty. "If I put on my psychology hat and what I learnt whilst I was at university, I was really repressed - the expectations laid down to me by my parents, and by myself also, were high and I acted in a particular way to try and meet those expectations." Hermione suddenly felt embarrassed at asking such a personal question, especially one which made Draco lay bare part of his soul, but he was doing so without protest. "I didn't want to be what I was, but it's difficult once you get into that kind of actions to get yourself out of it, and I had people watching me the whole time who would have reported back to my parents the instant I put my foot over the line. But you were passionate, intelligent and fierce - much fiercer than I was, and I admired you for that. So yeah, I had a thing for you at school, and I still do." 

"Well I guess that's something worth exploring then... isn't it?" Hermione smiled, her heart seemed to have jumped up into her throat and was fluttering like a trapped snitch. There was a small silence as they both took a drink of their coffees, then Hermione said: "It's weird though, Ginny said the week that you started at the Ministry that the two of us would be a good couple..." 

"Really? I never really knew an awful lot about Ginny, apart from that she was a Weasley," He said honestly, "And a wicked chaser, I hated playing against her because she always stripped laps out of us." 

"That's what she's doing now, playing quidditch professionally for the Holyhead Harpies." Hermione told him, "She's doing really well at it." 

"Is she still with Harry?" He questioned. 

"Yeah, they're getting married later this year." Hermione said, they had gotten engaged last Christmas and Hermione knew that Molly was already fussing over everything about the wedding. 

"They're a nice couple." 

"They are. I've been wondering what was going to university like?" She changed the subject, checking her watch and realising that they would soon have to go back to the Ministry. 

"It was really great!" He exclaimed, "I didn't really know what to do at the end of the War, I just wanted to get away and do something different. I do admit that I had to use some slightly nefarious means to actually get accepted into a muggle university because I have exactly zero qualifications of any use, but once I was in I really worked hard."

"It must have been a big shock to the system, going from Hogwarts to muggle university?" When she had been a little girl her parents had told her their stories of being at university in the hopes to inspire her to want to go when she was older, but Hogwarts had gotten in the way. 

"It was... When I started all my friends thought that I was a posh, sheltered, home schooled boy." He laughed, "I didn't actually set them straight on that, I just kind of let that one become what they thought. It was hard work, everything's tougher without magic, but that makes you value it even more. There were a few times that I did use it during my time, but only when I really had to." 

"I would have loved to university, my parents really wanted me to." Hermione admitted.

"You still could you know," Draco said, "You'd breeze through it - any subject, you'd take it right on it."

"Ah, I'm not sure..." Hermione shook her head. "And anyway, I like my job at the Ministry, I still feel like there's so much I have to do." 

"It's good to be doing something that actually makes an impact." Draco agreed, "I'm so glad that Kingsley actually took the gamble to hire me so that I can add to that impact too." 

"Kingsley is a good judge of character, he knows who to give chances to." Hermione told him, finishing her coffee with one final sip. 

"You think?"

"I know." Hermione nodded, "But I'm afraid I'm going to need to head back, it's almost two now..."

"Oh my goodness it is! I'm meant to be meeting Kingsley this afternoon for a progress report." Draco checked his watch, "Come on, let's go!" He downed the rest of his coffee quickly and stood up from the table. 

"Let's take the public entrance back down to the atrium," Hermione suggested as they came back up to the telephone box. "I always think that it's somehow nicer than the fireplaces."

"I think you're right there." He nodded.

"Is your meeting with Kingsley just to see how you're settling in?" Hermione asked as the lift began to descend. 

"Yeah," Draco grimaced slightly. "I've kind of been dreading going in and him firing me or something." 

"Oh, I'm sure that won't happen!" Hermione assured him, he bit his lip nervously. The lift had juddered to a halt in the atrium and they walked across the almost empty atrium to the central lift shafts.

"Shall... shall we do this again sometime?" He offered, getting into the vacant lift.  "Coffee, I mean... or maybe we could do lunch? Or dinner?" 

"Yeah," Hermione felt herself smiling, "That would be really nice."

"Great!"

"I better let you go and see Kingsley now, so I'll see you later." The lift had opened at Hermione's floor and she had taken a single step forward, then suddenly gripped with madness or maybe a special kind of magic she turned back, stretched up onto her tiptoes and kissed Draco's cheek. 

"Good luck with Kingsley." As the doors of the lift closed she saw Draco's hand raise up to touch the place where she had kissed him as though in disbelief. Hermione walked back to her office very slowly, a flood of emotions and new feelings washing through her that she hadn't expected to be; this was refreshing and surprising. She had been proved wrong by her own brain. She slipped in to her office to find a memo lying on her desk, and unfurling it found only four words. 

 _'You owe me - Ginny'._ Hermione knew that in regards to Draco, she certainly did.

 

 


End file.
